Desperate Housedogs

Desperate Housedogs
A Pampered Pets Mystery - Book One
Sparkle Abbey
Bell Bridge Books
Memphis, Tennessee
ISBN: 978-1-61194-050-3
2011
$ 12.95
192 pages

Being a pet psychologist has to be a challenge.   One must depend on behavior rather than a common language to communicate.   Even though animals are known to talk, you have to understand them to translate.
For Caro Lamont, this is her career.   Previously she lost her license to work with humans caused by her husband and ending in divorce.
Caro moved on to another place in an exclusive area in southern California, Laguna Beach; she now deals with slightly different clients, the non-human kind.  This community has more dog residents than children.
Her first client of the day is Kevin Blackstone who is having difficulties with his two German Shepherds.   They are upset and overly excitable, refusing to calm.
Two hours after her visit, Kevin is dead.  Caro knows that she is not the killer being he was alive when she left.
What about the shifty gardener who observed her?   Why was he not working and watching?  Why don't the dogs like this man?
If you are not certain if the police will clear your name as a person of interest, politically correct way of saying suspect, what do you do?
Sparkle Abbey is the combined work of two central Iowa authors both being owned by their pets. Mary Lee Woods writes for her cat, Sparkle.  Anita Carter is commanded by her dog, Abbey.
Desperate Housedogs aims for a female audience of light, cozy mystery readers.   The book is simplistic in form and organization while establishing the characters for many future books in this first book of the series.
Desperate Housedogs is fun to read while in pursuit of a murderer and to have to deal with a close-knit community including gossip and running a small business while maintaining personal relationships.
Does anyone lose business if they are a person of interest in a murder?
Why does the police, even a handsome officer, insist that Caro stay out of the investigation when she has more relationships and access to the real suspects?   Why can't they trust her?
I thoroughly recommend Desperate Housedogs to any reader who enjoys a fun, fast-paced, light mystery.